Australian War Memorial, Research Centre "gulf.xml" Guide to the Gulf War Collection Research Centre Published & Digitised collectionsCanberra, ACT 2003 Research Centre, Australian War Memorial. All rights reserved. Processed by: Dianne Rutherford, 2003Encoded by: Dianne Rutherford, Date completed: 2003 Finding aid written in: EN Descriptive summary Gulf War Collection. 1990-1991. The collection contains postcard, leaflets and souvenirs produced during the Gulf War, 1990-1991. The postcards are primarily made up of American and French postcards, however there are also a small number of British postcards and tourist postcards produced in the Middle East. There are all forms of leaflets collected such as leaflets from peace rallies, a list of atrocities carried out by Saddam Hussein before the war, language cards, missing person poster, US leaflets addressing Iraqi troops and Kurdish and Arabic civilians and post war plan of action leaflets. In the souvenir part of the collection there are items such as stickers, menus and a list of the ships which were involved in the Gulf War. The collection came from a variety of sources. 3 postcard albums and 14 folders. Published & Digitised Collections, Research Centre, Australian War Memorial.

Map Collection: Gulf War.Gulf War Newspaper Clippings.Greeting cards: Gulf War.

 Administrative information Access:

Open.

 Copyright:

Contact the Senior Curator, Published & Digitised Collections.

 Preferred citation:

Gulf War Formed Collection, Published & Digitised Collections, Australian War Memorial.

 Historical background

Gulf War 1990-1991

Iraq invaded its rival oil exporting neighbor, Kuwait on 2 August 1990. The invasion was widely condemned by the international community, and four days later the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a trade embargo against Iraq. Iraq's access to the sea was blockaded within weeks, and the United States assembled a large multinational force in the Persian Gulf, and another in Saudi Arabia. By the end of 1990 this force numbered some 40,000 troops from thirty countries, though the United States was the dominant partner in the coalition.

In November, the UN Security Council set 15 January 1991 as the deadline for Iraqi forces to withdraw from Kuwait. The deadline passed without an Iraqi withdrawal, and on the 17 January coalition forces began an aerial bombardment of Iraq, which continued without respite until the war ended 43 days later.

On 24 February, after more than a month of aerial attacks, the coalition's ground forces moved against Iraqi positions in both Kuwait and Iraq itself. After two days of strikes, Bagdad radio announced that Iraq's armed forces had been ordered to withdraw from Kuwait to the positions they had occupied before August 1990. Two days after this order, the coalition ceased hostilities and declared victory.

References:

Peter Dennis et al , The Oxford companion to Australian military history (Oxford University Press, Melbourne,1995) J. Bickerton , 43 days: the Gulf War (Text Publishing and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Melbourne,1991)

 Series list Series number Series title American and British Postcards French Postcards Middle East Postcards Oversized Postcards Souvenirs Leaflets Series description SERIES 1: American and British Postcards, 1990-1991 The American and British Gulf War postcard collection is primarily made up of postcards supporting their involvement in the Gulf War. There is a small collection of satirical postcards, and one anti-war postcard. There are also postcards of American Naval vessels which took part in the war. 1/1 AFA: Desert Storm...Airpower in Action! [Postcard of stickers used to show support of US troops, to use on mail] 1/2 Operation Desert Storm: our love, our thoughts, and our prayers are with you [Eagle head in foreground, US Flag in background] 1/3 Operation Desert Storm: thank you for a job well done [Eagle head in foreground, US Flag in background] 1/4 Greater Cleveland supports our troops [View of Greater Cleveland] 1/5 Ohio supports our troops [Outline of Ohio against starts & stripes background] 1/6 Kansas supports the men and women of our armed forces: Operation Desert Storm "1991" [US Flag] 1/7 Union Pacific Railroad EMD SD40-2, Number 3593 [Train cabin in camouflage paint] 1/8 Burlington Northern Railroad SD60M Unit Number 1991 [Train cabin painted in red, white and blue] 1/9 We're behind you!: You've made America Proud! [photograph: Eagle and US Flag] 1/10 United for a better world! [picture of globe featuring Persian Gulf, surrounded by Allied Nations flags] 1/11 Operation Desert Storm Persian Gulf 1991: Defenders of Liberty [US flag surrounded by scenes of military actions] 1/12 Operation Desert Storm Persian Gulf 1991: Defenders of Liberty [US flag in background with battle scenes and picture of an attacking eagle] 1/13 Operation Desert Shield Saudi Arabia [US flag surrounded by scenes of military actions] 1/14 Desert Shield - Saudi Arabia [US flag surrounded by scenes of military actions] 1/15 The Desert Storm [Poem by Alvin W. Byars, WWII veteran] 1/16 no title ['Road' made of the US flag leading towards the Liberty Bell adorned with a yellow bow] 1/17 no title [Gnarled tree adorned with yellow bows in front of a 'road' made from the US flag] 1/18 no title ['Road made from the US flag heading into the distance with a fly past in the background] 1/19 no title [B & W sketch mother with child, child is holding the US flag. Another US flag and a plane is in the background] 1/20 no title [George Bush addressing Troops] 1/21 The Gulf War no. 2: Limited edition of 1000 prints [B & W situation map showing Allied forces attacking Iraq] 1/22 The Gulf War no. 1: Limited edition of 1000 prints [B & W situation map showing Allied forces attacking Iraq] 1/23 Saddam Condom - Directions: use this condom to help prevent unwanted mistakes like Saddam Hussein [Advertisement postcard for 'Saddam Condoms' by Dynamic Concepts] 1/24 Saddam Condom - Directions: use this condom to help prevent unwanted mistakes like Saddam Hussein [Advertisement postcard for 'Saddam Condoms' by Dynamic Concepts - same as 6/1/23] 1/25 (1991 - Year of Threat and Promise) 1991...The year the World bade farewell to Pres Gorbachev, Russian Communism and the Soviet Union. [Cartoon of Gorbachev no. 76 in a limited edition of 1000] 1/26 (1991 - Year of Threat and Promise) 1991...The year the World united to overthrow an evil tyrant and restore peace in the Middle East. [Cartoon of George Bush 'subduing' Saddam Hussein no. 76 in a limited edition of 1000] 1/27 This isn't the Holy War I had in Mind! [Cartoon of Saddam Hussein with scenes of Allied military operations in the background] 1/28 Your Sheikness...We have arrived to defend the sovereign OIL, I mean soil, of your Kingdom and your UNLEADED, uh...unfettered way of life from the VISCOSITY, er, uh, venality of our CRUDE and UNREFINED enemy...at your service your GREASE...Grace... [Cartoon of George Bush addressing Kuwaiti Emir (?)] 1/29 The US media on the Ball - "Geez...Nothing gets past you boys!" [Cartoon of George Bush using the Gulf War to distract the media from other issues] 1/30 [Arms Industry] "Whew! Things were sure looking bad, the cold-war ending Peace breaking our all over-People were actually talking about cutting Defense Budgets!" [Death] "Thank Heavens, all things must pass" [Cartoon of the 'Arms Industry' and Death heading off to Iraq] 1/31 No Blood for Oil: Bring the Troops Home [Person in the form of a petrol pump holding a missile. Stylised US Flag in the background] 1/32 Military Codependency Complex: [Statue of Liberty] "I know, I know...He's rough on my economic competitiveness, abusive of my environment...and this National Security thing is a joke, but I can't imagine life without him". [Cartoon: America (the Statue of Liberty) and the 'military machine' at a psychiatrist's office] 1/33 I want YOU for U.S. Army : No female drivers need apply [Satirical take on famous 'Uncle Sam' recruitment poster] 1/34 The Gulf War no. 1 of a pair [Photograph of publications relating to the war] 1/35 The Gulf War no. 2 of a pair [Photograph of publications relating to the war] 1/36 'Shoot Saddam' at Basingstoke Carnival Fair July 1991 [Photograph of Carnival side show] 1/37 Flags of Victory for our service men at the Henty Arms, Ferring Lane, Ferring, West Sussex, England. March 1991 [Pub painted with four large Union Jacks] 1/38 Boeing B52 Bomber [Pub painted with four large Union Jacks] [Boeing B52 bomber landing at Fairford in Gloucestershire, England] 1/39 USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) Suez Canal Transit Operation Desert Storm [Aircraft carrier] 1/40 USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) and Carrier Airwing 3 [Aircraft carrier] 1/41 Persian Gulf Carriers: USS America (CV 66)...alongside USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) [Aircraft carrier] 1/42 USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69): Suez Canal Transit [Aircraft carrier] 1/43 Battle Force Red Sea: with the Carriers USS John F. Kennedy, USS Saratoga, USS America and other Red Sea Battle Force ships [Convoy of US Naval vessels] 1/44 USS America (CV 66) [Aircraft carrier] 1/45 USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) [Aircraft carrier] 1/46 Battle Force Red Sea: with the carriers USS John F. Kennedy, USS Saratoga, USS America and other Red Sea Battle Force Ships. [Convoy of US Naval vessels] 1/47 Suez Canal Transit: USS America [Aircraft carrier] 1/48 USS John L. Hall (FFG-32) [Guided Missile Frigate] 1/49 Persian Gulf Battle Force Operation Desert Storm: Aircraft Carriers USS Midway, USS Ranger, USS Theodore Roosevelt, USS America and escorts... [US Naval vessels] SERIES 2: French Postcards, 1990-1991 This collection contains French postcards produced during the Gulf War. The postcards make great use of imagery - montages, cartoons - to put across each postcard's message. The collection is a mixture of postcards for and against the Gulf War. Many of the anti war postcards use satire to good effect. 2/1 AH 64 A Apache [drawing of helicopter] 2/2 MI24 "HIND" [drawing of helicopter] 2/3 AS532 Super Puma [drawing of helicopter] 2/4 UH1 Huey [drawing of helicopter] 2/5 Guerre du Golfe [montage of images from the Gulf War] 2/6 War of the Parades [montage of images from the Gulf War] 2/7 Operation Desert Storm: Persian Gulf 1991 [plane and logo super imposed over a photograph of an eagle] 2/8 Operation Desert Storm: Persian Gulf 1991 [Head of an eagle superimposed over a scene of a military convoy] 2/9 Operation Desert Storm: Persian Gulf 1991 [Profile of an eagle superimposed over a scene of a military convoy] 2/10 Le Cocus de l'Histoire Saddam Hussein [Saddam Hussein represented as an hour glass, burying the 'Dove of Peace', George Bush] 2/11 Golfe Le Gachis! [Head of Saddam Hussein] 2/12 Mitterrand: [thinking] 'et vivement la prochaine...c'est bon pour ma cote de popularite!!!' [whilst saying] ' Apres une bonne guerre...le repose du guerrier!!!' [Francois Mitterrand's head superimposed on a body relaxing in an armchair with a drink on a ship. 2/13 Operation Desert Storm: Persian Gulf 1991 [Helicopter at sunset] 2/14 Operation Desert Storm: Persian Gulf 1991 [Picture of outer space and an eagle] 2/15 Operation Desert Storm: Persian Gulf 1991 [Picture of outer space and an eagle] 2/16 Le dictateur de Bagdad: Saddam Hussein [drawing of Saddam Hussein holding a rifle with explosions in the background] 2/17 Golfe: les prescheurs du mensonge [George Bush's head and an eagle, superimposed on a tank] 2/18 Golfe: L'animal [Saddam Hussein's head superimposed on a body surrounded by rubble] 2/19 Guerre du Golfe: George Bush [George Bush's head superimposed on a serviceman's body] 2/20 Guerre du Golfe: Colin Powell [Colin Powell's head superimposed on an airman's body] 2/21 Golfe [George Bush's head superimposed on a jet, Saddam Hussein's head shown as target] 2/22 Golfe: Schwarzkopf: au-dessus du Golfe, l'armee supreme: Le F117 qui echappe a tous les radars [Schwarzkopf's head superimposed on a stealth bomber] 2/23 Malheureusement au Kurdistan il n'ya pas de petrole comme au Koweit!!! [Kurdish child on father's shoulders] 2/24 Diamant noir pour or noir: Guerre du Golfe Irak-Coalition 16 Janvier - 28 Fevrier 1991 [Cartoon] 2/25 Echec et mat pour Arafat [Cartoon of US 'hand' flicking Saddam Hussein off a chessboard, whilst a French hand, holding a 'Jewish' piece, throws off Yasser Arafat] 2/26 Guerre du Golfe: Israel dans le collimateur de l'Irak [Cartoon of Saddam Hussein wearing a deaths head helmet, with a machine gun, with the Star of David as its sight] 2/27 La Guerre du Golfe: Saddam L'ange de la Mort [Cartoon of Saddam Hussein as an Angel, holding a sickle and hourglass] 2/28 Guerre du Golfe [Cartoon of two missiles(?), one with Saddam Hussein's head on it] 2/29 La Guerre du Golfe [Cartoon of Bush and Mitterrand (?) going to war] 2/30 La Guerre du Golfe [Cartoon of Bush and Hussein in tanks, aiming at each other with the dove of peace caught between them] 2/31 Operation Desert Storm [Drawing of a flock of birds and profile of an eagle's head] 2/32 Operation Desert Storm [Drawing of an eagle] 2/33 La Guerre du Golfe [Cartoon of Hussein] 2/34 La Guerre du Golfe [Cartoon of ONU trying to catch the dove of peace with a net] 2/35 Inquietude en Israel: des masques a gaz ont ete distribues a la population [Cartoon of a person in a gas mask, with the Star of David as a respirator] 2/36 Il est pret a repartir... [Cartoon of Gadhafi, Bush and (?)] 2/37 Golfe Non [Cartoon of a body with a building for a head, with teeth, and arms coming out of its mouth] 2/38 Quelle connerie la guerre!!! - Guerre du Golfe 1990.1991. [Cartoon of a stylised body with a missile for a head, and skull and crossbones at its feet] 2/39 La Guerre du Golfe [Cartoon of vultures, one with the head of Saddam Hussein] 2/40 PIN'S invasion du Koweit [Cartoon of Saddam Hussein selling commemorative badges for the anniversary of the invasion of Kuwait] 2/41 Golfe: Retour vers L'enfer [Heads of Saddam Hussein and George Bush superimposed over bodies of military personnel] SERIES 3: Middle East Postcards, 1990-1991 Postcards produced in, or thought to be produced in the Middle East. This includes Gulf War specific postcards, as well as tourist postcards of the area collected at the time of the Gulf War. 3/1 The Clean War!! [Donation Committee to Reconstruct Babylon Medical Syringes Plant - Iraq] [drawing of skeleton soldiers with bayonets, stabbing at a syringe] 3/2 Dubai: Inter - Continental Hotel [tourist postcard] 3/3 Sheraton Dubai Hotel [tourist postcard] 3/4 Sheraton Dubai Hotel [tourist postcard - same as 6/3/3] 3/5 Operation Desert Storm [Cartoon of military hat and sunglasses in the desert] 3/6 Law & Order on the Q8 Border [Cartoon] 3/7 Ahlan Wa Sahlan! An Arabian welcome of coffee and dates [tourist postcard] 3/8 Dubai Sheraton Hotel [tourist postcard] 3/9 View of Dubai [tourist postcard] SERIES 4: Oversized Postcards, 1990-1991 This series contains postcards, which could not be stored with the rest of the postcard collection due to their large size. Its content is a mixture of the previous three series. 4/1 All Clear: The Gulf War 91 [Cartoon of Camel with helmet and sunglasses checking that it's "all clear"] 4/2 Dubai: United Arab Emirates [Tourist postcard showing views of Dubai] 4/3 We will return: Free Kuwait [Stylized towers] SERIES 5: Souvenirs, 1990-1991 This series contains souvenirs such as a list of the ships involved in the Gulf War, stickers and menus. 5/1 Royal Australian Navy, Navy Public Relations, Media Liaison. [Colourful brochure which lists the ships which were involved in the Gulf War] 5/2-6 Bring the Frigates Home; DDG's CIWS Operation Damask; USNS Comfort T-AH 20 (Australian medical team) [Collection of stickers] 5/7-9 H.M.A.S. Brisbane 1990/91 deployment Christmas Day Menu 25 December 1990; Desert storm special menu at 'The Old Vic' Ramada Hotel Dubai [Menus] SERIES 6: Leaflets, 1990-1991 This collection of leaflets contains items such as language cards, US leaflets to the Iraqi troops and the Kurdish and Arabic civilians, a missing persons poster, instructional leaflets for service personnel and a selection a leaflets collected from peace rallies held in Canberra and New South Wales, there are two post war action plans also included. 6/1-4 Sydney Welcome Home; Gulf warships and personnel [Brochure produced giving details of the parade to be held for the men who served in the Gulf] 6/5-31 US Leaflets addressed to Iraqi troops [A group of colourful leaflets which were dropped over the trenches depicting cartoons, fake bank notes and drawings of a bomb each of these has arabic writing on the back. There is a black and white leaflet called 'Psychological warfare: a gulf success' describing the meaning of the leaflets.] 6/32-33 "Danger - mines - stay on the main roads' [Two black and white leaflets in Kurdish and Arabic addressed to the civilians informing them there may be mines located off the road.] 6/34 Have you seen this woman? [Missing persons poster of a British citizen, Rosanna della Casa. In March 1991 Nicholas della Casa, her husband, and colleague Charles Maxwell, were killed by a Turkish guide in a dispute over the guide's fee. She was the crew's assistant. They worked for the BBC and were making a documentary about the plight of Kurds in Iraq. Her body was said to have been found by Turkish villagers four miles from where her husband and Maxwell were murdered, but pushed it into a river. Her body has never been recovered. ] 6/35-39 Language cards and pronunciation guide [These cards have a range of words in English Turkish and Kurdish and Arabic. The pronunciation guide is Arabic scripts composed of consonants only and is written from right to left.] 6/40-45 Individual protective measure while travelling overseas; CTF provide comfort language card - minefields; Warning: Stop - hands up, Stop or I will shoot you; General leaflet informing that people from the Middle East put very high value on certain personal characteristics. [These are instructional leaflets for service personnel, giving details on each of the above.] 6/46 Dealing with separation due to overseas service. [A guide for service personnel and their families on how to deal with separation due to overseas service.] 6/47 Dear Peace Supporters [Pre war document listing the atrocities Saddam Husseim carried out before the war.] 6/48-49 From Baghdad to Karbal: the human cost of war by Rick McCutcheon; Committee to save the children in Iraq plan of action. [Post war leaflets looking at the human cost of the war and a plan of action to save the children in Iraq.] 6/50-86 Leaflets collected from peace rallies held in Canberra [There are several colourful and black and leaflets giving details of when a rally was to be held and newspapers entitled: Direct Action; Resistance and Green Left weekly.] 6/87-142 Leaflets collected from peace rallies held in New South Wales [This collection includes several colourful and black and white posters and leaflets from organisations such as Bring the Frigates Home Coalition, Network for Peace in the Middle East, Peace Action. There are copies of petitions forms, letters address to the Prime Minister, Mr R Hawke, and a list of affiliates to Bring the Frigates Home Coalition.]